The National Aquarium Animal Rescue in Baltimore is celebrating a milestone— healing and releasing its 250th animal since the program began in 1991.
The team released 11 Kemp’s ridley sea turtles into the Atlantic Ocean at Canaveral National Seashore in Florida this week. Animal Rescue nursed the turtles back to health in Baltimore after they were found cold-stunned along the Massachussetts coast late last year. The Aquarium says many were treated “for ailments associated with hypothermia—including pneumonia, upper respiratory infections, eye lesions and frostbite on their flippers.”
The Aquarium nicknames its animal patients around a theme each year, and this time, the turtles were named for elements of the periodic table. Some of the turtles released include Neon, Titanium, Nitrogen and Boron.
They were in good company for their reunion with the Atlantic: 25 other sea turtles rehabilitated by the New England Aquarium, National Marine Life Center, the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, Virginia Aquarium and the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation were also released.
But there’s still work to be done back in Baltimore— Animal Rescue staff are still caring for 15 more rescued turtles, Kemp’s ridley, loggerheads, and green sea turtles, until they are also ready for release back into their ocean home.
